Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - CBS Sports draft analyst Chris Trapasso breaks down why Davenport and Murphy were available

Episode Date: March 16, 2023

Matthew Coller is joined by CBS Sports draft analyst Chris Trapasso to analyze the Minnesota Vikings' two signings Marcus Davenport and Byron Murphy. Both players were high draft picks who weren't re-signed -- so what happened in their previous locations and how can they be better in Minnesota? What does Kirk Cousins' restructure mean for their chances of drafting a quarterback? Is the 2024 QB draft expected to be good? Did Chris grade the Bears' trade down highly or overrated? Who are the Panthers taking? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here along with CBS Sports Draft Analyst Chris Trapasso returning to the show. What is up, Chris? How are you enjoying your free agency? I'm loving it. I mean, this is like a break for me from refreshing my Twitter, writing reactionary pieces, tweeting about every available free agent. So to be able to kind of reset after what, three days of free agency, but like two hours of the period when like Lamar Jackson can talk to other teams. It's good to get this reset now and talk about a lot of Viking stuff

and a lot of things happening inside the NFC North that have a direct impact on the Vikings. I know. And the major story for the Vikings was what happened with Kirk Cousins restructuring his contract. So I want to get your take on that. And even maybe if you have some idea of next year's quarterback class, I don't know if you've done your research yet on them, but that is kind of the direction that it's pointing. Chris said it's a great place to start because this year, I'm really not sure if there's going to be any opportunities.

But correct me if you think that that's different to take a quarterback, because every projection seems to be that all of these guys are going in the top 10. But it does feel like there's always a possibility based on recent history that one guy isn't the darling that we think he is or that the draft analyst world thinks he is. It's kind of like if people say it, that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to come to fruition, but everyone sort of follows the leader when it comes to these quarterbacks.

So maybe that is possible. But if it's not, then it does look like 2024, they will ultimately move on from Kirk Cousins. The way that this contract is set up for them to have a $28 million dead cap hit in 2024, and then be rid of that dead cap hit after that and go on to a rookie quarterback contract. So what do you make of the future? Assuming that the Vikings want to draft a quarterback either this year or next year. This is fantastic news. We've been talking about this

like ever since I've come on that, like we respect Kirk Cousins, his play, his higher floor than, I don't know, most 75% of quarterbacks in the NFL. But is he a Super Bowl caliber quarterback? Probably not. We've seen so many games from Kirk Cousins, thousands of attempts. Doesn't seem like that type of guy. And the early kind of sneak peek on next year's quarterback class, and this is like the most cliche drafting of all time, it does look maybe better than this year. I mean, this is a pretty good class with Bryce Young, Anthony Richardson kind of inserting himself. But with Caleb Williams, Drake May, who had a fantastic sophomore season at UNC, kind of looks like, like literally he looks like Justin Herbert in the face and he kind of plays like Justin Herbert. There's Spencer Rattler's returning.

Bo Nix had a great season at Oregon. There's just more names that are already established at the collegiate level that don't need to just break out out of nowhere. Now, will all of those quarterbacks be amazing and be jockeying to be the number one overall pick next year? Probably not. But when you go in with even Spencer Rattler, who had a great end of the season at South Carolina, who was kind of the presumed number one overall pick

in this year's draft before the season, there's four or five names right there, along with Caleb Williams, who just won the Heisman. It does right now seem like it's going to be a better class. When you have more names, there's just a better chance that it's going to be a deep quarterback class in 2024 and yes you're right that that is a cliche draft analyst thing for sure that we all have to say you know that next year it is true but I also think that those two guys you mentioned May and Caleb Williams they're probably not going anywhere as far as the top of the draft for next year. And then people

can emerge from there. But I think that the Vikings would have a pretty good sense for that before they lay out the entire future of their franchise. Now, as it pertains to this year, though, and if you want to add more about that class, go ahead. But if as it pertains to this year though and if you want to add more about that class go ahead but if as it pertains to this year do you think that uh will levis if he was the guy to drop that that would be a good move to trade up for him because i could see that scenario i could see kevin o'connell saying look at this big armed matt stafford looking dude that uh you know could throw into those tight windows that i want okay i have like 50 points just like rumbling around in my head. Firstly, I'll say I'll, I'll try to answer your question right away. I, I, I love the Will Levis idea and it reminds me of 2021 where everyone expected Mac Jones was going to be the number three overall pick after the San Francisco 49ers traded up.

He wasn't the pick. He got picked way later. Look at mock drafts. Justin Fields was one of the first selections. He got picked later in the first round. It didn't get into the teens for either of those quarterbacks, but I do think ultimately one of them will fall. And as of right now, what about five or six weeks away from the draft? Will Levis has the least amount of buzz of any of those quarterbacks. So it wouldn't be crazy if he gets within striking distance, as you mentioned, where they could trade up. And he's kind of the opposite of Kirk Cousins. I think learning, and I don't know how much Kirk Cousins would want to be a mentor, but learning the intricacies.

I brought up the Matt Barkley, Josh Allen dynamic in Buffalo. Josh Allen has come out and said it was so impactful to him early in his career to learn from a quarterback that has the opposite skill set of him about the intricacies of reading coverages and route concepts and accuracy and footwork and how those little important things matter even if you are this freakish athlete with crazy arm talent like Josh Allen and like Will Levis I I would really like that for the Vikings. That would be not super sexy in round one for this season, but in terms of the future, the long-term future, I would really like it.

I wanted to bring up what you mentioned about if the Vikings have looked ahead to next year's class. A tiny insight doesn't really connect to the Vikings. So you know this guy, Ty Dunn, who's in the Buffalo area, he's a great national NFL kind of investigative journalist a little bit. He kind of digs into things after the season. He does a podcast with former Bill's GM, Doug Whaley, who was the GM right before Bill's current GM, Brandon Bean. And what was interesting is that he was the GM all the way through the 2017 draft.

And he talked about that even like when they were watching Trubisky and Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes, they were already like doing their research on 2018 with Darnold and Josh Allen. So they kind of, he didn't say like, Hey, this is the reason why we didn't pick Patrick Mahomes at number 10 overall. But he was like, it was just interesting when I heard that on a podcast, I think last year or two years ago that he and like the assistant GM that Ty has on the podcast said like, Oh yeah, like maybe not other positions, but definitely if you're a team that does not have a long-term franchise quarterback, you're at least looking one year ahead and getting like a junior year scouting report or a sophomore year scouting report on those quarterbacks to kind of navigate you or help you navigate the quarterback position. So having an analytics-based GM in Kwesi Adafo-Mensah, I would almost be positive that he's done his research and has people on his team doing research on next year's

quarterback class. And not only that, but they also have these things a little bit like inside baseball a bit, but called Blesto Scouts, who are, I think it's a company that works with every NFL team or most NFL teams. And they give essentially the list that the teams should be looking for of the players. A year out. Kind of vetting all of the potential. Yes, a year out with all the potential prospects. This just shows you the different levels to scouting. And there's a reason why the NFL is pretty good at chunking these players into first

rounder, second rounder, third rounder. And the success rate matches up with that, which is another thing too, that this year we talked about it a little bit, but it's solidified even more in my mind. If you're sure you're moving on from Kirk cousins, which I'm just feeling like it is with what they did here. Don't bother with drafting quarterbacks in the third round. Don't look for development quarterbacks or anything else make your big swing or don't. Uh, and I would say this year, if that opportunity arises, and I've said Levis, I don't know that it's Levis, but if it is, then go for that.

If it's Stroud, if it's Young, if it's whoever, just go for it and make that big swing. And don't even worry that much about, well, we've got this flaw or that flaw because a lot of that gets made up by the circumstance. And here's the other thing we know is if they get Justin Jefferson signed to an extension, if they get TJ Hawkinson signed to an extension of all the teams in the league that you could drop a player into and then develop it. And this is why I like it for this year, develop him for a year. You are talking about competing

for a Superbowl. If that player works out, Not for sure, because nothing's for sure in Minnesota. But if that player works out, and those are the things you're giving him with a year of development sitting behind Kirk Cousins, you just could not ask for a better situation, maybe in the entire NFL, to put a quarterback into. And Christian Derrissaw still being very young at that point. Brian O'Neill being very young. The offensive line, they're going to, and they already kind of have,

and we're going to get to that about free agency, invested on the defensive side. We've talked about it before. I think last year, as we kind of saw the offensive line come together as a really, really good unit, especially a tackle, that it really would be one of those situations where dropping a young, talented quarterback in, it would be hard to ask for a better scenario. So if Will Levis does get within striking distance and after trading back last year, they said, hey, let's trade up. This

year we had some extra picks. I would be completely fine with it. I usually do not like trading up, but of course the caveat for a quarterback, I be completely fine with it. I usually do not like trading up, but of course, the caveat for a quarterback, I'm completely fine with it. Right. Yeah. For a quarterback, it's always different. And it's just a matter of, can they put together the capital? If there's other teams that want to do that, how long would they let somebody go before they make that move? These are all the things that Kweisi Adafomensa is going to have to manage. Now, the Vikings did make two signings of interesting players that when you don't get a second contract from your team, it's a red flag immediately. That deal did not work out. Essentially, that pick did not work out if the guy doesn't get a second contract or if he signs

with another team for cheap. So that is both Marcus Davenport and Byron Murphy. However, I've also given these signings really good grades in my opinion for the Vikings, because I think that there is potential there that these could work out based on the underlying numbers for Marcus Davenport and some of his raw skills and Byron Murphy. I know he's got back issues and there's concern with injuries, but also a guy who has been kind of around hovering around average on a really inept bad defense with a bad organization. These are the types of swings that I think you want to take, but your reaction based on you would have covered these guys a lot coming out in the draft and tracked their progress through to getting to free agency, your reaction to the Vikings signing Marcus Davenport and Byron Murphy?

Well, I certainly had first-round grades on both. I remember PFF absolutely loved Byron Murphy. I wasn't quite as high on him as they were. I adored Marcus Davenport. I thought he was maybe not someone I would have traded up in the first round like the Saints did to get him, but I thought he was going to be, you know, hit the ground running big time, three down player. And he's been good. I think he's been better than Byron Murphy in 2021, when he had the four interceptions and

12 pass breakups, that season and Marcus Davenport's best seasons came in 2021. So I don't know if there was some analytics edge where they thought, hey, last season, these circumstances for Davenport weren't quite as good. Byron Murphy, like you mentioned, on a bad defense with no pass rush, especially after JJ Watt went down. That's always going to be mentioned on a bad defense with like no pass rush especially after JJ Watt went down that's always going to be hard on a cornerback maybe they felt hey look in 2021 when the team made the playoffs the defense was a little bit better in Arizona put him in more of a situation conducive to just make plays at the cornerback spot and with Byron Murphy what I remember loving about his game, truly an inside outside

corner. I know we always hear that, that he's versatile. He can play in the slot if you want. He really has nickel cornerback athleticism, but played on the perimeter at Washington when he was coming into the NFL. The only concern I have with Marcus Davenport in terms of his development, it's kind of philosophical. And I've seen it here in Buffalo with AJ Epinesa and Boogie Basham. He is like so big and so thick that I almost worry that those power rushers in today's NFL, they just take too long to win. And I've almost like docked defensive ends when they're like 6'6", 280, 275 and they have some moves but they really just try to bull rush their way to a quarterback and they're actually

kind of heavy-footed but you see how well they move at their size and you're like wow he's a great athlete but it's always with the caveat at his size it just seems like it takes over those magical two and a half seconds for Marcus Davenport to register some of those pressures. And I know that the Vikings, certainly in the Rick Spielman era, Mike Zimmer era, have liked the bigger defensive edge rushers. That's my really main concern with him is that he wins with his size and his power. But in today's NFL, the ball is out so quick. I think that kind of saffs some of his productivity because he does win a lot. He does have pass rush moves and he's powerful. That was just my one concern with him as he's developed with the

Saints after being a first round pick. Yeah, it's funny because he's like the complete opposite of Yannick Ngakwe, who they once upon a time uh acquired where yanni yannick and gawkway never wins but then when he does it's a strip sack it's amazing uh but all the rest of the time he just gets completely taken out of the play where somebody like marcus davenport it was kind of shocking to look at his sack numbers and then go to his in-depth stats and see pass press first win rate and pressures and you're like wait this says that he should have had an amazing year last year now like you said in 2021 he had nine sacks and that does to me say that this is the type of buy low type of deal

that they should be looking for a young ish player with potential upside, because if that's the guy he can actually be, and he could get nine sacks and he could get potential pressure, then you've landed somebody for half the price of the guys that usually sack the quarterback a lot. I guess the thing I wonder about with Davenport one is a little bit of fit where it's not a guy who I would expect for a three, four outside linebacker type. Like you said, that when you look at 260 pounds, that's more of a three technique almost with some of the guys that are coming out and how light they are on the defensive line. So this is a big guy that, like you said, probably would have fit a little bit better in the past, but even if he mixes in as a situational rusher

or whatever, as he has in the past and plays 500 snaps instead of a thousand that we've come to expect from somebody like Daniil Hunter. And he ends up with a good number of pressures and sacks and the arrow is pointing up at the end of the year and they resign. I'm like, there's, there's just this world where it works out really well. There's a world where it blows up and the guy's just not any good. But I think that based on their timeline, based on their cap space, you can't get too many proven commodities for pass rushers with the cap space they have. And also you want to get someone who there is a question, could he actually be better than he was with New Orleans?

And I think the answer is yes. Yeah, definitely. And I think with Davenport, because he was a first round pick, and it's not his fault that the Saints traded up to get him because then there was always that label of like, can he live up to being worth two first round selections? That's not on him. I don't think there's really much of a chance that he's just not good at all because when I've watched him in New Orleans and because I was, I remember writing an article, pitching it to my editor that I was like watching college football I think in his last season and it was like a late it was one of those like random late games that you just turn on on a Saturday night and it was UTSA and I'm like who in the hell is that guy and right around the same time PFF was like oh UTSA has this dude that's probably going to be a first round pick wrote

the article on him so I always had kind of a spot for him to follow his career. He's not, he was kind of a bust because he is signing with a different team, like you mentioned, but he has a pretty high floor. He's not someone that's just going to be invisible. If you look at his pressure rate, he's a good run defender because really he is so powerful. So I think on a defensive line with Harrison Phillips, Daniil Hunter, Zedarius Smith, some established players that know their role. I mean, certainly going to be a new defense with Brian Flores. But our established players, there's almost a 0% chance

that Marcus Davenport is just a terrible player that just can't contribute in any way. Right, and so at very least, they have helped themselves a little bit on defense and we're still sitting here waiting to find out what happens with the rest with zedarius smith but it doesn't seem like he's going to be part of this so you either found your replacement there or a situational rusher for next season and maybe beyond if it works out really well so there's really nothing not to like there and 21 and a half sacks over your first handful of years.

Not terrible. It's not like you, it's not like you're like you said, a complete bust. It's just that this last year was quite a downturn for him in the sack production. Let's change gears a little bit here and talk about Chicago because they are the darling of free agency as any team with lots of money is last year. Everyone was mad at the Jaguars. Why are the Jaguars getting all any team with lots of money is last year everyone was mad at the jaguars why are the jaguars getting all these players because they have to there's a cap floor they have to um and that's the same thing with chicago i think they may have overpaid that

linebacker who cares that they have to they have to spend this money there's no other choice so they might as well outbid other teams. Plus who's coming to a bad team unless you outbid. But anyway, they traded their number one pick. I would love to hear your thoughts on how they did, because I thought that they did extremely well for themselves. Other people, salty Vikings fans, of course, I got some dissenting opinions there. Where do you stand on how well they did on their trade? I think they did good, but not as good as you think. We have a draft trade chart. My former editor, RJ White, who I always reference as a mad scientist, he has tracked every single trade and devised his own system. I think from like 2017 on,

like literally every trade in the draft and he's assigned numbers to it. You can plug it in. It's like this like Excel or I guess Google sheet that a lot of the CBS guys use. Amazing. Plugging everyone in, it seemed right about even it was in terms of value. The bears got about,

like they were a late first round pick short of it being an even trade. And then you throw in DJ Moore, who I don't know, maybe could fetch like one of the last picks in the first round, maybe at this point, because he's still pretty young. So I don't think they made out like bandits, but it was certainly a good decision for them. I much rather the Bears trade back to where they did number nine overall than like barely get anything and move back to two I I didn't

understand that or even back to four I thought it would either be um I mean I guess the Colts could have offered a lot but the Panthers or a surprise team that it seemed like they just wanted to completely get way away from the first overall pick because they knew, especially on the offensive and defensive sides or up front on those sides, that they had a lot of roster holes to plug. So I think they did well. I don't think it was like, oh my God, they completely robbed the Carolina Panthers when it came to the compensation that they got for that trade. Yeah, I thought it was a win-win for both of those teams.

It was because now, you know, now Carolina can get their future quarterback or trade back to number two or four with a completely insane team, which is always good. If you're the team that spots the insane teams, you could be pretty good. And if you think there's no insane teams, you're the insane team. But you know, I think the DJ Moore part of it is where maybe we differ a little bit between good and great for how they did because I've seen DJ Moore the couple times he's played against the Vikings smoke them and I think highly of him and I think when you look at his when you look at his numbers and you consider who's played quarterback for him, this poor man has faced the most inaccurate, frustrating quarterbacks that have no idea how to play football, that throw interceptions all the time, that overthrow him, underthrow him.

And now that might also be the case with Justin Fields, I guess we'll see. But I think that for the Bears figuring out if Justin Fields is good or not, this dude is going to get open and he's going to catch the ball. And if you can't throw to him, you're probably not good. And I would say that for Sam Darnold or PJ Walker or Baker Mayfield, if you couldn't get it to him, you're probably not all that good. And they're going to find out now because of that. So I give an established player a little bit more attention with this, that if they had just gotten draft capital, it's the same as always,

who knows what that draft capital is going to be, but they got really valuable draft capital for who's what it's going to be. And the most important thing, the reason I give it the, the, the a plus for me is that they set themselves up to find out and also have an opportunity to move on from Justin Fields if they want to. So they really played both sides. They didn't have to move on from Justin Fields now so they can get a bigger sample size with

good players around him. But if he throws for 1800 yards and 20 interceptions next year and runs for a thousand and they want to move on, they can, they can draft high. They can have two first round picks for next year and their next quarterback can be dropped into a good situation with weapons. That is the most important part of this deal. And they accomplished that. Yeah. And I think for the bears again, to, there was kind of a thought that they were going to not trade too far back because they didn't want to miss like a Will Anderson or a Jalen Carter. I always thought that was a little bit silly

because they're not a Will Anderson or a Jalen Carter away from being really good. Just having, we always say this, more roles at the table matters a lot more in the draft right now for the Bears than just one. Even if you get Khalil Mack 2.0. I mean, that didn't, it got the Bears to the playoffs one season. And then after that, it was kind of a failure in terms of that trade in general. So, and weirdly on the other side of it, it got the Raiders to the playoffs one time and then kind of didn't work for them either. So yeah, I, from that perspective, philosophically, especially to get like 2024 and the 2025 what second round pick um it certainly sets them up well to do a lot of this ground floor rebuilding

that they certainly needed to do to kind of clean house after their previous gm and head coach i would like to adjust a previous opinion on the show though with new information when we were at the combine and the stuff about jalen carter came out i think both of us said I would like to adjust a previous opinion on the show though, with new information. When we were at the combine and the stuff about Jalen Carter came out, I think both of us said, like, I don't know if a street racing thing is going to keep teams away from Jalen Carter. It's a league that doesn't really care what you do. I will tell you what will keep teams away from Jalen Carter, nine extra pounds since the combine the combine dude you and i are huge fans of eating pizza neither one of us you know exercise that much we couldn't gain nine pounds since the combine and we tried we ate like crazy there i came home and didn't weigh nine more pounds from

the combine somehow jalen carter did uh that's bad and the fact that he didn't even finish the individual workouts and things like that, because he's so out of shape. I think the league is going to say no way off the field stuff. Didn't take this seriously. Forget that. This could be Isaiah Wilson all over again. And I think that he's going to drop like an absolute rock here in the draft, which means that now it's a little bit of a different dynamic with the very top of the draft. If he's not going to be a part of it. Here's what I said about Jalen Carter and the last day or two that he didn't need to ace the pre-draft process. Obviously he could

have almost been like Bryce young and just kind of sat back and said, Hey, watch my film in the sec two-time national title winning defensive tackle best player on that defense last year that had three first rounders on the defensive front seven. But he's just didn't, he just couldn't flunk it. And that's what he's doing right now. He's doing everything wrong that could cause him to sink in the draft. And I think you're right as each day goes by. I mean, I don't really know what else he could do after the Georgia pro day to make it worse. But I think it seems it's more likely that he's available in the teens or maybe even in the twenties, because you're right again, it's, it's one thing to say, Oh, Hey, I would pick him for this mock draft to the lions at six

overall. It's another to be literally on the clock as a GM and be like, are you going to pick Elijah Cansey? Who's probably the best pure pass rusher in the draft that has no off field concerns, no weight issues. Maybe he needs to actually gain a little bit of weight or someone that is really good in Jalen Carter that has all the off the field and maybe character issues when your job is on the line. It's just a different story.

So it will be interesting. I still think he'll go in the first round but yes back half at this point for jalen carter yeah the character issue conversation is a complicated one we've got other things to get to but the uh handling of that from todd mcshay it was kind of just it it shows how difficult this is because clearly todd mcshay knew that there of just it shows how difficult this is because clearly todd mcshay knew that there were problems there but when he said it there wasn't clear evidence that there was and so it was like wait if you're kind of hinting but not saying but then sometimes i have to do the same thing here i kind of know something but i can't really report it and it is a it is a dicey line to walk but it has turned out character issues are a thing.

And maybe we'll call it next year. When we go to the combine next year, we'll call it the Jalen Carter challenge where we will try to gain nine pounds in Indy because you can do it with enough food there. It is a great food city. I want to ask you who you think Carolina is going to take with the number one overall pick.

I'm going to plant my flag right now by uh Bryce Young take a Bryce Young that's I think that we always try to do this hey could somebody else get drafted over Trevor Lawrence hey you know Joe Burrow it's the it's the guy it's the guy we all think is going to be the guy so that that's what I've got I think it's going to be Bryce Young I think it's Bryce Young the guy we all think is going to be the guy. So that that's what I've got. I think it's going to be Bryce young. I think it's Bryce young the whole time. I think they know they don't make that move unless they know that you don't just like, wait, who's the quarterbacks this year, Frank Reich. Have you been looking at them? Oh man, we got a lot of work to do. Like, no, they know who they're taking. And I think it's Bryce young. Do you have a different opinion? Um, I do. I'm going to say CJ Stroud.oud i think in my my most recent mock draft i still had anthony

richardson it came after the andy dalton signing the the one reason i'll say is that i don't think it will be bryce young if you look at and this is maybe a galaxy brain take but frank reich veteran coach old school kind of football guy the coaching staff there in Carolina is like an all-star coaching staff from like 2013 there's a lot of older school guys that I think it's probably not true and Bryce Young's been able to play with his limited size and I think his limited arm strength and been really good for two seasons in the SEC I could see that coaching staff collectively kind of creating their own echo chamber and being like, this guy is so little, how is he going to succeed?

And not be like, oh, you know, that doesn't really matter because he can create, his arm strength is at least average. He's a great anticipatory thrower. The accuracy is there. That's why I think they'll lean a little bit more prototypical size because of the, just kind of the age and the experience and kind of the old school philosophies that probably most of their coaching staff has. The one thing I'll say too, why can't these teams just say, yep, we traded up. We know who we're picking, but we're not telling anyone. Is it like a directive from Roger Goodell? It's like, look, you guys can't say this because you need to keep the excitement for the draft going. Because I feel like it's happened a lot.

Like even in what, 2016, when the Rams traded up to pick Jared Goff, it was like, who's it going to be? And I'm like, guys, it's Jared Goff. It's not Carson Wentz. You're not picking Carson Wentz there. I just don't understand why they can't say it. And honestly, if they traded up to one and then they're like, well, we're going to trade back now to four and they just got rid of DJ Moore in the process, like that would be horrible for their GM, Scott Fitter.

If I was David Tepper, the owner, I'd be like, wait a minute, we just traded up and traded. I mean, they would obviously get something back, but I would not be happy if I was David Tepper, if they ultimately trade to two or three whatever the case may be they need to know who the guy is right now i think it's stroud because he kind of checks the boxes as that prototypical passer yeah i don't know why teams do this either i mean maybe they put something like that out there to just be like anybody gonna get nuts because if they already like two of the guys and they're saying to the texans hey uh yeah you in love with somebody because we'll take more draft capital back if

you're in love with someone and the texans shouldn't do that they should just take whoever falls to them although they were like weirdly interested in jimmy garoppolo you're like texans stop it yeah what was that just take your don't i don't even know what the Raiders are doing with Jimmy Garoppolo, honestly, because I don't think that team could really win. But maybe they feel like they're out of the conversation for the top quarterbacks, but isn't the Anthony Richardson part of this interesting as well? This was the team that had Cam Newton. There's no looking at him and not saying he's similar to Cam Newtonton although newton was a better thrower in college but you know the amount of experience we've talked about this richardson has so little experience that if he played in college for two more years i mean isn't somebody pointed out that will levis

like hadn't even transferred yet at the same age as what anthony richardson is right now it is it is not apples to apples when you look at these guys i just wonder if you think there's any chance that their owner would step in or their gm rather than frank reich could be like look i know that you want a cj stroud because he throws the ball nice but look at the nfl this is the type of guy we need high upside it's your job to teach him how to throw the football better go to work with the best athlete in the world yeah i could certainly see that where david tepper steps in and maybe gave a free agency directive and said hey why don't you sign someone like andy dalton i think he like andy dalton is like the the classic or consummate like bridge quarterback for that coaching staff or like oh we can win with andy dalton when in reality it's like you don't want him really playing that much at all maybe like like the month of September and that's pretty much it

I mean they're in on Adam Thielen too at this point he visited with them which we can talk about like what is like where are they in the rebuilding process that's what I can't really figure out if it was the Colts trading up to one I'd be like oh they're gonna pick Anthony Richardson because of Shane Steichen what he did with Jalen Hurts The Panthers are just a little bit more hard to peg. I would pick Anthony Richardson. And that is like independent of who the coaching staff was because of what you kind of hinted at. And I probably have a little bias of just watching Josh Allen and watching Patrick Mahomes go at it. That what you can get out of those quarterbacks, not just if they, oh, if they

hone their accuracy and some people would say you can't fix the accuracy thing. It's your job as the GM and the head coach to build a good team around him. If Josh Allen was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 2018 or the Jets at three in that draft, he would not be Josh Allen today. And that's not because he got better with his accuracy in Buffalo. I mean, that was part of it, a big part, but adding Stefan Diggs, Cole Beasley, John Brown, I've talked about it a lot on this podcast. That matters more than anything else. So to your point, I think David Tepper could say, look, I'm letting you, Scott Fitterer as the GM, keep your job, build this team around someone that has the high end upside in anthony richardson

so i could certainly see that as well i think there's a case for all three of them i mean with each one i watching quite a bit of them this year college football maybe even more than i usually do but intrigued by all of them of course you can't can't miss watching Bryce Young play for Alabama. But even Saturday, right, exactly. You're going to see Saturday, but having watched quite a bit of Anthony Richardson, the high end stuff is just magical. It's just so next level that I could see your point of saying, I'm just going to take the risk that there's a lot of that there, but then CJ Stroud versus Georgia will live in my mind. Like that guy, he was tough. He balled out. And the next time Georgia played, they beat someone 62 to seven. So I was like, that's how good of a showing he had against that defense. And that means a lot. I think all three guys have great

character that you could point to. And I just don't know as much about Will Levis. So, and there's been less buzz about him, but you know, that wouldn't surprise me either if a team just loved his arm strength. So still, I don't think we have a very good idea. Your guess is as good as mine. And they're not telling anyone again, if you see a report that says they're considering this or that player, it's wrong. Whoever's telling that it's wrong. It's just wrong. They're not telling anyone who they're going to pick. That's wrong. Whoever's telling that it's wrong. It's just wrong. They're not telling anyone who they're going to pick. That's how this league works in the WNBA. By the way, once Bill Lambert, they got the number one pick. He was the head coach and GM of the Vegas aces. And it was so obvious who it was going to be. Asia Wilson, who's turned into a hall of fame talent

that when they won the lottery, he was like, can't wait to have Asia Wilson here. But NFL teams, for whatever reason, just do not do this. And they're not going to tell you. So talent that when they won the lottery he was like can't wait to have asia wilson here but nfl teams for whatever reason just do not do this and they're not going to tell you so we'll see with everybody else on draft night and like you said with raj raj loves the drama he knows like you gotta build that till that moment well i have a question too this just popped into my head and maybe you know this working or like covering a team closely how would a trade down like hypothetically how would a trade down for Carolina with the Texans at two some team at three or four how would that happen where they would say well do you like someone like do they

tell each other like would the Texans tell the Carolina Panthers? Yeah, we love Anthony Richardson. Like, couldn't you at that point be like, oh, all right, we'll pick him then. Like, I don't know how logistically that would work. I always wonder that in general with draft trades. And we do get those kind of behind the scenes draft videos from a lot of teams. Now, most teams do them. I always find it weird when they have the GM call another GM and it's like, got your guy there's like yeah he's here and I'm like why does the other team just go I mean maybe it's just ethical like just don't hang up on a team after that but I always

just wonder how those ultimately go down because in sneak in kind of sniffing around wouldn't you especially if you were the Panthers in the quarterback Market want to find out the other team's top quarterback and then kind of help you make your decision that way. It's just kind of a weird situation for Carolina to not only just trade up. I think it makes sense, but then to come out and say, we might actually trade down. It's one thing to say, we don't know who we're picking. It's kind of like eye roll inducing, like, okay. But then to say, we might like all three of them or four of them and trade down.'s like how in the hell would that work yeah um so there is for sure more intel in nfl buildings than we have or than mock drafters have for sure they everybody talks they have a good sense of like

what's going on in the combine they all hang out with each other and find out a lot of things i think about what everyone else thinks they also know how scouts look at stuff and draft boards are probably pretty similar for certain players where there's, there might be 27 teams who look at someone, let's say Malik Willis and say, or 32 teams and say the outside world does not know what we know about Malik Willis. And you can't, if Malik Willis went into interviews and blew them. And I'm not saying that that was reported or that he did. You wouldn't know that they would only know that. Or if someone has a medical issue like the Kobe Dean, you wouldn't know that they would know that. And so the Intel is a lot sharper,

I think. So they probably have an idea, but if someone's calling you about the pick, it's pretty obvious. That means they're, they want a quarterback and that, right. So you'd have to be comfortable with this guy or that guy would be the case. If the Texans call, you know, they're not comfortable with one of the guys, but if you are, then you're saying, okay, no matter which of the three or four that they pick, we'll take the next best on the list because we think they like this guy or whatever. So it kind of convoluted there but i want to ask you one more thing about the vikings circling back knowing what they've done so far who they've let go who they've brought in uh where do you think if i if you had to pick right now who would you say or maybe not

player but what position would you say that they would go after or do you feel like it's still very much up in the air after uh the first couple days of free agency it's still pretty much it's still up in the air but i think you'll like the answer that it's it's probably wide receiver um to to finally have adam thielen like we there was a thought maybe he could come back um and he's obviously no longer on the team. Wide receiver, especially where they're picking, it seems like that's where the premier guys will be. I would also say defensive tackle after losing Delvin Tomlinson,

who Kweisi raved about, and we talked about it right after the combine, that in his press conference he was like, hey, we love Delvin Tom thompson we want him back that ultimately didn't happen but we talked about jalen carter would they be a team that would be willing to roll the dice on jalen carter we don't know what this vikings regime's stance is on those character concern type guys like there's teams in the past like i remember john dorsey when he was in cleveland and kansas city was bringing in the Tyree Kills of the world, the Kareem Hunts, signing them, drafting them every year. And I don't know if that's what the Vikings would ultimately do.

The reason why I don't definitively say, hey, look, they need another defensive tackle after losing Delvin Tomlinson, outside of Kalijah Cansey and Jalen Carter, I don't really love the rest of the D tackle class in the first round. So, of course, my board could look different than the Vikings, but that's really talking consensus-wise. Go look at mock drafts. There's not five or six first-round defensive tackles. This is not 2019 when there's Quinnen Williams and Jeffrey Simmons and Ed Oliver, like Dexter Lawrence, Christian Wilkins. That was a really, really good D tackle class. That's not the case. So that kind of leads me back. They've addressed corner. They have the young pieces at safety,

Andrew Booth last year. It kind of feels like it's leading, kind of leaning in the direction of a wide receiver when they pick in the first round. Right. And some of it might depend on how they feel about the health of a Caleb Evans and Andrew Booth Jr. for the cornerback position. If there's someone Brian Flores likes, and this does seem to be a strong late first round, early second round cornerback draft. So all those things are in play. And as we talked about quarterback still in play, I think very much up in the air. But the fact that can't see improved his stock a lot makes me think that he might not be

there, even though in all the PFF draft Sims, he is available and I usually take him. But wide receiver, there's a good number of guys there that they could kind of have their choice of their favorite because I don't think that the wide receivers are flying off the board there i think that they might go late first uh or early second based on the fact that all of them have kind of their individual flaws all right i'm not going to rescind my last answer but the kalijah cancey idea piqued my interest in that quacy is a guy that you told me created models for analytics for you know drafting or I guess finding edges in the draft or in free agency it kind of feels like Elijah Cansey would be a big

analytics kind of headliner right to test like Aaron Donald to have the high level productivity at Pittsburgh it would really only get dinged because he's not really that big. But of course, we're in today's NFL where you kind of mentioned earlier that there's three techniques, a lot of them that are playing like 275 to 295, and that's actually fine. Not a great run defense idea to have that much or that little weight on the interior, but it kind of feels like Cancy would probably be a green light type of player in one of Kweisi Adafo Mensah's analytics models when it comes to the draft. So that could certainly be on the table and they still have Harrison Phillips, who I certainly know well from the bills. He's a really good wide bodied run stopper. Like that's, it's probably

better to have two of those, to have Dalvin Tomlinson and Harrison Phillips, but to get a defensive tackle that compliments the other guy that you signed last year, that was actually pretty good for you. And in Harrison Phillips, Kalijah can't see would make certainly a lot of sense too. And I could see them if they don't love the receiver class or like it later, or really adore KJ Osborne. Like you mentioned to me at the combine,

maybe Kalijah can't see would be like the GM saying, look, a lot of my numbers are saying the explosiveness and the productivity mean that this guy is a surefire first round pick. And I think that drafting Brian Asamoah also kind of pointed to that, that they do want to be quicker and that they view that as being a modern thing, right? The athleticism and that interior pressure. Kweisi is very well read on all the analytic studies. Analytic pressure is just a problem for opposing teams.

You're seeing it with how much those guys are getting paid these days. The increase in interior rushers, where when we were growing up, there might be three defensive tackles in the league who could get after the passer. And now there's 20 and they're all getting 20 to $30 million a year. So things are changing from that perspective. That's why I think the can't, he won't get there, but if he does, it makes a lot of sense for the Vikings. So, um, one real quick thing, there is a Tik TOK going around of a guy who claims that a regular person could gain 10 yards in an NFL game passing without a screen pass or a swing pass or something. And I just want to implore people to stop saying that, to stop ever thinking

that. And if someone in your life tells you, you know what, I could probably get 10 yards passing if I had a whole game and good wide receivers and everything. If someone tells you that, do not speak to them anymore. They're a lunatic. Do not ever take any of their opinions seriously. If you have stood on the sideline, if you have met these people, if you understand the speed, the size, the power of the National Football League, the guys playing this game are the fastest guys in their state

when they're in high school. They're state champion wrestlers. They're state champion weightlifters. It's every guy. You've never met anyone in your life as athletic, as strong, as terrifying, as mean, as technically good, as vicious. You won't get a throw off. The first hit you take will put you in the hospital. So you will not play four quarters. You won't play four plays. And even if you did throw the ball, you couldn't throw it hard enough to get it into any sort of window that a receiver could catch it. It would be intercepted or knocked down instantly. There are players who are the best player to ever play for their college quarterbacks who have every record ever set at their university who get destroyed on their first day of training camp and

never play in the NFL again. And you think you're going to throw a complete pass? No, you're not. The ball is probably even just too big for you to hold. It's rolled over to me a few times in camp. It's really big. There's no chance. Maybe the only thing you could do on an NFL field would be a fair catch punt as an average person. Everything else, I'm not even sure you could do on an NFL field would be a fair catch punt as an average person everything else I'm not even sure you could be a holder considering how fast the ball comes back from the long snapper it probably just go right through your hands there is nothing you could do out there and stop disrespecting people from the National Football League as the greatest athletes in the universe think about this I'm foot two. I would be an undersized

quarterback by a lot for compared to most of the quarterbacks. I mean, the average quarterback runs a four seven. There's almost no chance, you know, anyone or have ever met anyone who can run a four seven. That's the quarterback position. They could throw the ball 60 yards in the air. You can throw it 20. I mean, it just stopped doing this. Stop doing this. I know it gives you engagement and look what it's done to me, but stop doing this forever. End of show. So I thought you were just going to ask me my thoughts on it, but I'm so glad that you answered your own question and went on that epic rant because it's perfectly spot on.

I was going to try a similar rant and I'll just go the draft angle that I watching 300 plus guys every year. They're really good players where I'm like, Oh, he's really good, but he's not really that fast. And then I'm like, wait a minute, this guy just had 200 yards rushing in this game. Now he's not really that elusive by NFL standards. So I certainly in watching college football, watching film during the pre-draft process, there's so many, like you're mentioning high level college players that it's weird for me to watch where I'm like,

Oh yeah, but he's really not that fast when it comes to the NFL. Like it's a completely different animal. They're the best players at the college level. And a lot of them don't ultimately become even good NFL players. So no, me, you, anyone listening could not complete a pass. When I first saw that TikTok, I thought, oh, if you just like threw a screen in under us, but then he said, no screens, no, what then absolutely like there would be a one to 5%

chance. If you could just catch the snap and throw it to Justin Jefferson and he could run 10 yards after the catch. Beyond that, absolutely not. No one that we know or that is listening. And don't take offense to that. I mean, these guys are the top 1% of the top 1% of the top 1% in the NFL. It just needed to be said. Stop engaging with that. It's the same with like, it's like, could Alabama beat the lions? Like, Nope, Nope. Couldn't happen. Not even close. And

every player on Alabama would snap you in half. So anyway, uh, that I just, I just, this is needed to come out because it just drives me crazy. Also, if you look at the pick, remember that, cause you could go on for you look at the pic, remember that, because you could go on for days with all the evidence, but remember the picture of DK Metcalf where he had like a 37 pack and it was just like so beefed up. That's a skill player.

That's a skill play. That's not even a guy who's going to hit you. Imagine what the guys are going to hit you look like. Speaking of hilarious college and NFL players, do you remember sean oakman from baylor the defense oh yes there's that famous picture of him i think before a bowl game he was like 6 8 285 standing next to like like a running back who was a captain like getting the coin toss and he has like an 18 pack and he like was not good in the n whatsoever. He could not play at all.

And he was the most chiseled, sculpted dude in football. And you would be facing someone like Sean Oakman, who was on the bottom rung of an NFL roster when he was in the league. And he is an absolute freak of nature athletically. Right. And this goes for anything. It goes for any pro sport. Could you return a serve from Serena Williams? No, you could not. 10 years after she's retired, you wouldn't be able to, much less Serena Williams in her prime. Can you beat a pro chess player? No, you chance. No chance. These are the best people on earth. So anyway, fun show as always, Chris,

and we will continue to march toward draft season as things unfold during free agency. But I feel like we learned a lot this week and covered a lot here. So I look forward to, maybe we'll do a post free agency draft sim next week. I think I'm down for that. Let's do it.

I'm ready. I'm ready. Let's go. Football. All right. Catch you next time.